With the chaos of social media (mainly Twitter) at the end of 2022, I started to experiment with Substack as a forum for posting news and blog posts.  I’m not too sure yet, but this blog may be discontinued and relocated. So if it looks like I’ve vanished from cyberspace, do check out leighfletcher.substack.com  ..read more

Over the past few weeks I've answered several media enquiries about the future of Ice Giant exploration - here was one exchange by email with Metro News. Q: Why is Uranus called one of the most intriguing bodies in the solar system? Uranus is known as an Ice Giant, sitting in between its larger Gas Giant cousins (Jupiter and Saturn), and the smaller terrestrial worlds.  When we look out at the ever-growing collection of extrasolar planets (worlds beyond our Solar System), we find that planets of similar sizes to Uranus and Neptune are commonplace.  We might therefore have two great e ..read more

The US Decadal Survey for Planetary Science dropped today, prioritising Uranus for a flagship mission in the coming decade. I had the opportunity to talk to a number of reporters, some of the frequent questions are included below. Here's the news from the National Academies on #PlanetaryDecadal and #Uranus: when I first read that recommendation, I feared I might be dreaming! Elation, relief, gratitude to the team that made this happen, and a little trepidation about the road ahead. https://t.co/rPVLRedgkL pic.twitter.com/Xq3cj6xzvi — Leigh Fletcher (@LeighFletcher) April 19, 2022 What does i ..read more

Obviously by totality I mean "maximum eclipse of about 23% from Leicester", but I was quite excited to capture this image, in any case! Gotcha! #SolarEclipse captured through the clouds from #Leicester, a few minutes after totality. pic.twitter.com/WsiW8uslE5 — Leigh Fletcher (@LeighFletcher) June 10, 2021 And here are some helpful tools for eclipse safety, and identifying the time and date of the next one:   Partial #SolarEclipse happening tomorrow morning, and visible from here in the UK (23% coverage from Leicester) - with lots of precautions, of course, see safety tips here: https ..read more

I've been asked a few times about space resources available online for primary education, so I'm going to try to collate a list here - this is non-exhaustive, so please feel free to offer suggestions! The European Space Agency have a range of activities for different key stages: https://www.stem.org.uk/esero/resources https://discoverydiaries.org/resources/ Some of my colleagues also helped to provide videos for the STEMLearning Youtube channel, in case that provides ideas: https://www.youtube.com/c/STEMLearning There’s a competition on right now to design artwork for the side of the rocket la ..read more

Weeks 1-5: 92.56 km in January brought me as far Kinder Scout, having left the dead centre of England on January 1st.  Having kept track of my distances daily using Strava, I've decided to keep a weekly running total from now on, to see how far I'll get! Week 6 21.72 km (114.28 km so far) From Brown Knoll, just south of Kinder Scout near Edale, north over Torside Reservoir, Yeoman Hay Reservoir, and finishing on the Holmfirth Road, at the very northern edge of the Peak District, the region known as the Dark Peak. Week 7 31.36 km (145.64 km so far) Leaving the Peak District, crossing the ..read more

School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester Full Details:  https://jobs.le.ac.uk/vacancies/2535/research-associate-in-planetary-atmospheric-science.html    Salary Grade 7 £34,804 to £40,322 per annum Funding is available until 31 March 2022 with a possibility of extension Closing date:  28 February 2021   The School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester invites applications for one or more Research Associates in Planetary Atmospheric Science.  The Research Associates will join the atmospheres team led by Dr. Leigh Fletcher, tasked ..read more

Locked down again and going mad.  I'm not particularly good at sticking to an exercise routine - seem to get bored too easily with running (after a couch-to-5km) and cycling (which I tend to do with the kids).  But I do enjoy walking, whatever the weather, headphones in and listening to an audiobook or podcast.  Anyone that lives near me will probably spot me doing laps of the village every few days - we have an old railway line near our home that's a good straight line for several kilometres, some good cross-field footpaths with views towards Leicester city centre, and a nearby ..read more

Last day of "School", and a bittersweet ending for me - after 8 years, my @royalsociety research fellowship is coming to an end.  The URF picked me up at a desperate point in 2012 (I was a new Dad, with no job beyond the end of that year), and I can't overstate my gratitude.   Some highlights of working with @royalsociety during this time: funding two superb PhD students (@RohiniGiles and @ortk95), summer students, and giving me the flexibility to manage an ERC-funded planetary atmospheres research team at Leicester.  Running the @IcyGiants discussion meeting in 2020, along ..read more

H/T to Ulli Kaufl for showing this quote from Low&Rieke (1974) on early thermal-IR @ESO_IR2020: "Observing at 10 µm has been likened to observing visually through a telescope lined with luminescent panels and surrounded by flickering light as though the telescope were on fire..."  I also never knew that the TIMMI instrument on @ESO's 3.6-m telescope observed the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet collision with Jupiter at 10 µm back in 1994, sensing ammonia gas and debris lofted into the stratosphere (Credit:ESO) ...and I didn't know that the successor TIMMI2 was also observing Jupiter in 2 ..read more